Listening is powerful.
Students are going back to school and the first thing they want to do when they see me is TALK. They want to tell me all about their summer: about their home life, about their friends, or about the job they just got. They want to update me on everything big or small. Since I don’t get to spend every second of the day with these students, I want to maximize my time with them, and the best way to maximize your time with people is to talk a lot, right? Nope. But, as a minister this is the temptation– because there’s always a problem to solve, always a nugget of wisdom to drop, always direction to give… and sometimes the thing people need most isn’t a monologue– is to be heard…
James says: “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak…”
God is this way with us as well. We call God our ‘Father’ for a reason. Sometimes he just wants to hear us talk to him about what is going on in our lives. And He just smiles and listens. How amazing is it that God knows what we are going to say before we say it, yet he still listens. This is a humble and glorious God.
My encouragement to you this month is to listen often and be slow to speak! It is one of the keys to having healthy, intimate, gospel relationships with people.
Check out what has been going on below this month!
Philippians 1:3-5
3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
1 Thessalonians 2:8
So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.
Zach Hallow
